Cryo
by DragonGirl90
Summary: you may not believe in spirits but maybe you don't have to for them to believe in you.


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**Hi this just came to me at school**

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The wind picked up and the already featureless landscape of white became a freezing world of swirling grey. He glared at the wall of windblown ice that had surrounded him as he pulled his all too thin coat around himself. He hated the North; it was too damn cold all the time. He realized that he had stopped walking and he resumed his lonely march hoping to find some shelter from the blizzard.

He walked for a few minutes, but what seemed like days until he stumbled and fell into a large snow drift. Pushing himself to his hands and knees he looked around and still saw nothing. Although now and again he thought he saw a white wolf but it always disappeared when he tried to focus on it.

The wind decided to blow even harder and now it whispered to him 'just give up' it laughed 'you are miles from shelter and no one will save you. Just go to sleep and it will all be over.' as the wind continued taunting him he felt how heavy his body was getting, and the winds offer was more and more appealing. Eventually even his best efforts to move failed and he collapsed in a small half-frozen heap, curled up trying vainly to stay alive. Just before he passed out he saw the wolf he thought he'd seen before coming at him. 'Great, if it's real I'm dog meat and if it's not I'm still and icicle' he thought as he lost the battle to stay awake.

Hours later he woke up feeling warm and comfortable. He was loath to open his eyes incase this was just a trick his mind was playing on him. However soon the smell of warm home cooking reached his nose and his stomach made up his mind for him. Slowly one at a time he opened his still heavy eyelids.

"Oh good, you're awake." A female voice said from the room next to the one he found himself in. "here drink this, it's hot chocolate, it helps to warm you up" the woman said bringing him a steaming mug with a warm brown liquid in it. He took it gladly, forgetting his usual paranoia and gulping it down all at once.

"Thanks…" he muttered as she took the mug from him.

"No problem, you nearly died, would you like some more there is plenty" she said laughing it off. "Mind telling me what you were doing out in a blizzard?"

"Work…and yes I would like more" he said sitting up, he noticed he was in a heavy gray sweatshirt and sweatpants both were too big for him "where are my clothes?"

"By the fire, they were soaked and if I may add are not nearly warm enough for this weather." She said handing him a new hot chocolate. "So my name is Cryo, what's yours?" she asked after he had downed five more mugs.

"Ed, I'm Ed" he said figuring that if Cryo wanted him dead she could have just left him to freeze.

"Well Ed, nice to meet you. Where were you heading, after the blizzard lets up I might be able to help you. After all automail is hard in this climate." She said as she handed him some food and they sat in front of the fire to eat.

"I was actually on my way back to the train station, I had been at Briggs fortress" he said around mouthfuls.

"The train station? Yep you were way off, but I can help it's about five hours by sled from here." Cryo said. "Hey, not to seem like I'm prying or anything but you got anyone waiting for you back wherever? I mean not many people go out in a blizzard even to get away from Briggs, those who do are ether stupid or have a reason… and you don't seem stupid to me"

"Yeah, my…my brother is back in Central and I really just want to get back to him." Ed said slowly "what about you Cryo? You got any family; this doesn't seem like the best place to live"

"No… I lost all my family a long time ago. They froze in a blizzard, and I couldn't bear to leave the North, it's been my home forever. I live so far separated because all the locals believe I'm cursed." She said sadly "so I live here alone, it's not so bad, and now and then I get to help the odd traveler or two." She said slightly happier.

"Sorry to hear that, it's hard losing your family…"

"Yeah, but we move on right Ed. We do what we can to live while we can. And we look out for those still living"

"Right…"

The two sat in silence for the rest of the long night as the blizzard tried to get in but failed. Eventually Ed fell asleep again and by the time he woke up the storm was over.

"Well ready to head out Ed?" Cryo asked once she saw he was up.

"Yeah. Let's go" he said as he got back into his own clothes plus the parka Cryo gave him. She gave him the seat on the dog sled that she had set up and soon they were off flying over the tundra.

After about five hours they crested a hill at the bottom of which was the town the train station was in. even though it was just down hill the slope was too steep and the way safely down would be a hour walk on foot, a quarter that with the dogs. Cryo pulled the dogs to a stop "This is as far as I'll go; you can get there from here alone right? Take the dogs they will come back to me." She said.

"But I don't know how to lead a dog sled"

"Don't worry the dogs know what to do, right boys?" she said and the dogs barked in answer.

"Will you really be ok till then?" Ed asked

"Sure I will go on and get home to your brother Ed" Cryo said laughing. "Go!" with her command the dogs started off. After they were halfway down Ed looked back to wave to Cryo again but where she should have been standing there stood a white wolf that as he watched howled once and then in a gust of wind blew away like a handful of snowflakes.

Ed was confused by this but decided that it was just the light off the snow playing tricks with him. He arrived at the station and got off the sled. "Go back to Cryo ok" he told the dogs who ran off back to where they had come but before they were out of sight they too were caught in a wind accompanied by a wolf's howl and blew away like snow.

The elderly station master also saw this. "Boy, did you perhaps get caught in the blizzard?" he asked Ed.

"Yeah…why?"

"Well did you meet anyone callin' herself Cryo?"

"Yeah…those were her dogs...why?"

"Well looks like that old wolf did it again" he said to himself "you see Cryo is the name of a snow spirit that takes the shape of a white wolf. Most of the younger people either don't believe in her, of think she's a demon wolf. But enough of the older people like myself know she's a blessing. They say she's the spirit of a young girl who lost her family to a blizzard and then in her attempt to find them was killed in an avalanche. I was saved by her once and enough travelers tell the same tale."

"I don't believe in spirits."

"Well she seemed to believe in you."

"Just give me the tickets" Ed growled.

"Fine, I'll thank her for you" the man said knowingly.

Ed rolled his eyes and boarded the train. On the ride as he looked out the window he saw a white wolf running by the train. The wolf looked at him and he mouthed a thank you. She nodded and melted into the snow. Ed swore to himself that he would never tell anyone about this.

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**Yay i liked it, hope you did too well you know R&R and maybe a spirit will help you when you need it.**


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